How to Recover From a Bad Test Grade in College
In an article for U.S. News, Laura McMullen shares a real-life story about a teacher who gave a student a C on a sizable assignment. This student’s tuition was paid for by an employer, and earning a C meant a withdrawal of the employer’s funds for college. This student tried many different tactics to get the grade changed. After review, the teacher left the grade at a C, because he believed that the student earned this grade.
The above story gives me anxiety as a teacher. I’ve personally had to deal with college and high school students and high school parents who aggressively pressured me to switch grades. I’ve had to tell them kindly that I cannot change grades, and I’ve had to deal with the fallout of my decision—students badmouthing me, students holding grudges for years, parents talking negatively about me to their own children and other parents, etc. This is the part of teaching I dislike the most (and honestly one of the reasons I almost quit a few years back.)
From a student’s perspective, you may think that the teacher in the story was a stickler or maybe even a jerk. Why wouldn’t the teacher bump up the student’s grade? This grade meant a student losing funding. So why couldn’t the teacher be more understanding? Learn how to cope with a bad grade and bounce back with the tips shared below!
What not to do
I see these mindsets and behaviors frequently. (In fact, I’ve seen them quite recently.) So take it from a college professor, if you want to improve your grades, avoid these four negative mindsets and behaviors when encountering a bad grade in college.
#1. Give up or throw in the towel. At the time it may seem like your only option, but giving up is never your only or your best option. In fact, I would argue this option almost always guarantees future bad grades. Refuse to have the mindset that you’re doomed and should give up. You are too early into your college years to quit trying.
#2. Assume your teacher doesn’t like you. Secret, secret—your college professor wants you to be a success. In fact, part of the reason your professor is being demanding is because he or she wants you to learn and grow.
I remember a student who I personally sacrificed hours of my time to helping. I worked with this student several times one-on-one, developing an outline and and a speech. I was incredibly proud of her for her hard work on her speech, but after the semester ended I realized (and heard through the grapevine) that she truly disliked me and had talked badly about me to other students. I did want that student to be a success, but for whatever reason she must have thought I disliked her (which I didn’t).
The reality is that I truly liked this student. I respected the fact that she took advantage of my help and applied my advice to her speech. I genuinely had no negative feelings toward her . . . until I heard she disliked me. Then, my feelings changed (mainly because I couldn’t understand why she disliked me so much).
#3. Take it personally. Bad grades don’t make you a bad person or a worthless person. If you are a perfectionist or an introspective person, you likely struggle with viewing your grades as a reflection of yourself. You are not your grades. You have value outside of them. Do not fall into the trap of believing bad grades reflect on your value as a person, because they don’t.
#4. Argue with your teacher. This is probably one of the surest ways of keeping your grades the same. Arguing with a professor pushes him or her to be defensive, rather than looking for solutions to help you. Additionally, your professor gets a bad picture of who you are. If your approach is argumentative, pushy, and demanding, your professor likely won’t feel inclined to help you now or in the future.
What to do
You do need to focus on the problem (aka the bad grade) for a time, but eventually you need to try to switch to finding a solution. How can you get from where you are now (the bad grade) to where you want to be (the better grade)? Use this four-step process to recover from your bad college grade!
Step 1: Reflect. This is an important step that many students forget to do or get stuck in. Avoid either reaction. Instead, take some time to reflect on your grade or the “what”—what happened? What are the consequences of that bad grade? What are the possible causes of this bad grade? What can you do to avoid getting an equally bad grade in the future?
Step 2: Assess. Following reflection, you should next move to assessing the problem. This looks more to the “why”—why did you get that bad grade? How did you study? What information did you study? Notice I did not say “how much did you study?” Students often confuse quantity of hours study with quality of output. College grades typically reflect less on the amount of time you studied and more on the quality of the work you produced.
Step 3: Approach. Now that you have a better idea of the “what” and the “why,” focus on the how—how will you be able to improve in the future? This often means you need to approach your professor and/or get extra help (e.g. tutoring).
Getting help may make you feel like you’re unintelligent, but the fact is that getting help is actually a sign that you are intelligent. Knowing when and how to get help is arguably one of the most valuable skills you can learn from college.
To learn more about emailing your professor, read my post “How to Email Your College Professor.”
To learn more about approaching a professor about grades, read this post “To Contest or Not to Contest: 5 Tips for Contesting Grades in College.”
Step 4: Adjust. Having good intentions and getting good advice alone won’t help your grades improve. Put your plan into action by adjusting your studying habits! Truly try the suggestions your professor shared, even if you don’t think they will work for you. Consider changing when, where, and how you study. See what works and what doesn’t work. If you need help getting started on ways to adjust your studying take a look at my post, “How Top College Freshmen Study.”
Getting back a test grade that you expected to be at least a B only to find out you earned a C or lower is discouraging. Avoid the four responses that won’t help you improve your grades, and instead try the four-step process to getting over and bouncing back from a bad test grade in college.
